Collision
by SongOnTheBreeze
Summary: "You can't just expect your dream women to have a head-on collision with you!" I stink at summaries. My FIRST EVER fanfic. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

Story name: Collision

Author: SongOnTheBreeze

Summary: "You can't just expect your dream women to have a head-on collision with you!"

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto, I really do. But I don't. Masashi Kishimoto does. Because I'm not smart enough to come up with something that awesome.

Yeah, so, this is my first ever fanfic. I love reviews, negative or positive, but please go easy on me, even if it does stink. I hope to improve as time goes on. I will apologize in advance for any mistakes in grammar or spelling. I do my best to check everything, but things can slip by...After all, words are _very _sneaky.

* * *

Chapter One

"Well, you're perfect match isn't going to just fall from the sky, you idiot!"

Iruka just smirked as Anko prattled on.

It was a beautiful day in the village of Konoha. The aqua blue sky was studded with small, fluffy clouds, and the sun, currently at it's highest point, cast a warm glow off of the roofs of the buildings. The pleasant smell of things cooking wafted out of the sidewalk food booths, and people bustled up and down the street, laughing, talking, and just enjoying the day. The birds swooped between the gold-tinged leaves of the surrounding forest, calling loudly to each other. Everything seemed so alive.

It's days like this that he lived for...And made him thankful for days off!

"HELLOOO! Iruka, come back to the living! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

He sighed, and blinking, looked back at Anko.

They'd been having this same discussion for hours ( well, if you could call it a discussion, with Anko being shockingly honest as always, and Iruka blushing a lot ), but no matter what Iruka said, he just couldn't get Anko to leave him alone.

"Anko-chan, as I've said before, I'm not interested in dating anyone right now. I'm busy enough with my new class. I don't need any other distractions. Besides, with all due respect, why do you care?"

Anko crossed her arms and huffed, fixing him with a stare that made him a bit nervous. Then again, Anko _always _made him a bit nervous. You never knew when she might decide to blow up.

"Because, as I said before, I think I found the perfect girl for you. She's nice, smart…and smoking hot!"

Iruka blushed a bit at that, but gave in with a sigh. "Okay. Tell me how you know her."

Anko's eyes widened, and for the first time that day, she appeared to be speechless.

"Err, well….She happens to be my cousin…."

"Absolutely not, Anko!"

"Aw, c'mon, Iruka!" she pouted. "She really is very nice, and she'd love to meet you!"

"I said no! I've already told you, I will never go out with anyone remotely related to you, because I know they'll be as crazy as you, maybe more...With all due respect," he hastily added.

Anko sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm warning you, Iruka-san. You're not getting any younger. If you don't find someone soon…"

Ouch. She just had to use the old 'not getting any younger' trick. That was low. But he wasn't budging.

She let the silence stretch out a bit, hoping for a reply. When none came, she lost her patience again.

"You can't just expect your dream women to have a head-on collision with you! You have to go out and find her! So, get off you're lazy butt and start looking!"

That's it! He was sick of this. He was ending it NOW.

Iruka stopped and turned to Anko, giving her his 'stern teacher' look. Just like a naughty student, she looked a bit intimidated.

"Anko, I will not tell you again-"

He didn't get a chance to finish. Without realizing it, he had stopped in the middle of an intersection between two streets. As he was about to give Anko a piece of his mind, a small but very strong body slammed into him.

Both Iruka and the women went sprawling backwards, the women's coffee landing with a splat just above Iruka's head. Anko stood between them, roaring with laughter, managing to choke out something along the lines of "Smooth move, dude!"

Iruka groaned and, glaring at Anko, sat up and rubbed his head where it had smacked against the pavement.

"What in the world?"

The sound of as unfamiliar voice made him look up. His jaw dropped. Had he really just run into _her_?

The women's long, mouse-brown hair fell down past her shoulders in a silky cascade, framing her small, pale face, and long neck. She was pretty short, very thin, and dressed in civilian clothes, but judging by the aching in his shoulder, she had hidden strengh, and just might be a ninja, though he'd never seen her before. A visitor from another village, perhaps? Either way, she had to be one of the most beautiful women he had seen in his life.

Before his mind registered what his body was doing, he was on his feet and gripping her arm to help her up.

"I am so...please forgive me, I...I'm so sorry!" he stammered, his face turning maroon as he watched her sweep the dust off her skirt with her hand.

She lifted her eyes to meet his, a light pink blush covering her cheeks. For a moment, she just stared at him, an awed look on her face. "Oh, no, please don't apologize!" she said finally. Her voice was very light, and made him shiver a bit. "It was my fault. I should have been watching where I was going. I guess I..." She trailed off, quickly turning her attention back to dusting herself off, trying to hide her now deepening blush.

An awkward silence ensued, until Anko loudly cleared her throat, and caused Iruka to let out a muffled yelp as she roughly elbowed him in the ribs. He glared at her, reading her lips as she mouthed "_Talk to her!_"

He shook his head, causing the spot where he had hitit to throb, and a silent but fierce glare-kunai-at-each-other-until-someone-gives-in battle comensed between the two ninja, unnoticed by the women, who was now staring off into space, too polite to just turn and walk off, but really wanting to get out of this awkward situation NOW.

Iruka soon gave up with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache that was threatening to take over his mind and blur out any sensible thought.

"I, uh, I haven't seen you around here before, have I?"

The sound of Iruka's voice made the women jump.

"Um, yeah, I just moved here from a village a few hours away. I've been hired as a teacher over at the ninja academy."

Iruka couldn't have been more surprised if the Fourth Hokage himself had floated down from the sky and kissed him on the nose. _She _was a new teacher for the academy? The one replacing Mizuki? Oh, boy. He was having some thoughts right now that he really shouldn't be having.

"Oh, so that must mean you're a ninja? I didn't know any other villages in the Fire Country hosted ninja training..."

The women frowned, giving him a strange look. "Oh, no, I'm not a ninja. I've never had that kind of training. They hired me because I'm familiar with this village's history and the theory of ninjutsu."

Iruka blinked. Oh, well, duh. Of course there weren't any other ninja villages in the Fire Country. But, wait a minute, theory of ninjutsu? How is ninjutsu a theory? Is that the best they could find in a teacher? Someone who'd never had training, but knew about the _theory. _Seriously? Then again, no one ever wanted the job as academy teacher, so it probably really was the best they could do...

Iruka pasted a grin onto his face, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh, well, I guess no other village in the Fire Country could ever be cool enough to have ninja, like Konoha!"

Oh. My. Kami. Did he _really _just say that? Judging by the look on Anko's face, he had. He sounded just like Naruto!

And...she was _laughing_? She was actually _laughing_? At that pathetic excuse for a joke? Maybe she was faking it? No, no, that was a real smile, and real laughter. Either this women was crazy, or was into very corny jokes. Anko's eyebrows shot sky-high, so that meant she was thinking the same thing. Well, at least she was cute when she laughed. Wait, what? Iruka mentally slapped himself for thinking that.

"Oh, oh my..." the women said, trying to catch her breath. "You're very funny. I was starting to think that ninja were all stiff and emotionless..."

Iruka didn't know whether he should be insulted or thank her. It then occurred to him that he didn't even know her name.

"So, um, what's you're name? I'm Iruka." He bowed deeply, trying to give her a winning smile. It came out looking like a grimace.

The women bowed back, giggling. "I'm Tori. It's very nice to meet you, Iruka-san. You're a ninja here, correct?"

"Yes. I work as a teacher at the academy, actually, so I suppose we'll be working together."

Tori's smile widened. "Really? That's great!"

She paused, looking a bit reluctant to say something, but then continued.

"Say, since we'll be working together, maybe you could come with me and show me around the village. Since I just arrived, I'm not very familiar with the layout. And, maybe you could buy me a coffee to pay me back for that one." She pointed to the brown puddle next to them, batting her eyes in an almost theatrical display. "I would be very thankful if you did."

Iruka barely managed to keep his jaw from dropping. Was she _hitting _on him? Yeah, she was.

At this point, Anko was doing everything but shooting off flares to get his attention. Iruka finally spared her a glance.

_"Say yes!" _she mouthed, an I-told-you-so grin on her face.

"I..uh.." Iruka blinked, trying to think straight. This women was very pretty, and she seemed very nice...Maybe he could, just this once...

Hold on. What was he thinking? He was a ninja! He couldn't date!

"I'm...I'm...I'm very sorry, but I can't. I've, uh, I've got to give a report to the Hokage! Right, Anko?"

Anko was glaring kunai at him again, but he ignored her.

"Oh, that's..too bad." Tori looked extremely disappointed. "Well, I guess I'll see you when classes start, hm?"

She turned and walked off.

Anko looked ready to explode.

"What the heck was that?"

Iruka sighed, staring after Tori with a longing look on his face. Did he do the right thing? Should he have accepted the offer? No, no, he did the right thing...But would it really have been that big of a deal? It's not like the lady had asked him to marry her. Why had he turned her down?

"Don't start with me, Anko. I have my reasons for not accepting."

"And what would that be?"

Iruka sighed again, turning to look at her.

"I'm..not really sure."

* * *

So, how was it? I'm already working on Chapter Two, and I should have it up in a couple of days...But since I'm working on five other fics right now, no promises. Again, I very much appreciate any reviews, so please take the time to do so.

And I know that part about Tori replacing Mizuki kind of came out of no where, and seems very unlikely, but it was the only thing I could think of to explain why she was new in the village...


	2. Chapter 2

FINALLY finished with Chapter Two. It's painfully short, but I'll have the third and (maybe) final chapter up soon.

I decided to start switching from Iruka's POV to Tori's. I thought it would (hopefully) make it more interesting.

* * *

Chapter Two

POV: Tori

The moon cast an eerie glow through the window, tinting everything silver. Tori blinked, sighing at the ceiling, then turned onto her side and buried her face in her pillow, willing sleep to come. After a few minutes, she sighed again and flopped onto her back. She wasn't going to be able to sleep, and she knew it. Sitting up, she kicked the sheets away and swung her legs around to the side of the bed.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to think. _What's with me? _She thought. _Why can't I forget about him? He's just another ninja, just another teacher at the academy. What was the big deal?_

It had been three weeks since the incident with Iruka. She had seen him only twice since. The first was a week after, when both of them were scheduled to take their class out for field training…in the _same _field, at the _same _time (she was starting to think fate was working against her). She had spent most of the time staring at him, until one of her students asked her if she was zoning out on them. The second time was when she was shopping in the market two days ago. She had watched him from across the street as he bought carrots, mushrooms, and some fish that she couldn't recognize (but that didn't make her a stalker for remembering that. She was just observant, right? Right.).

She had tried everything to get him out of her mind, from burying herself (almost literally) in her work, to hypnotism, but nothing helped (the hypnotism hadn't made her forget about Iruka, but it had made her forget most of the names of her students, which caused her to spend most of the class handing the wrong papers to people and calling them the wrong names, until her assistant for the day was smart enough to give her the name list, which jogged her memory. Boy that was a strange day.). This guy was driving her nuts!

She stood up and pulled on a jacket over her pajama top. She needed some air.

_I wonder where Iruka is right now. _She wondered. _And I wonder if he's thinking about me…_

POV: Iruka

"And you let her go, just like that? Without saying anything else?"

Iruka sighed. "Yes, I believe we've established that."

Genma just shook his head, a look of disbelief on his face.

Iruka leaned against the railing behind him and closed his eyes.

He'd accepted the job of late-night guard duty with Genma to get away from Anko's now constant harping about the whole Tori thing. He knew Genma didn't talk much, so he wouldn't have to keep up a conversation. Kind of sneaky, but it would be worth it. At least that's what he thought, until it became apparent that Anko had heard and gotten to Genma. So now he had to spend four hours listening to him harp about it instead.

Plus, to make matters worse, it looked like Anko had told more people then Genma about it. The entire walk to the gate, Iruka heard nothing but this from ninja and civilians alike:

"Hey, did you hear about Iruka?"

"Yeah, Izumo told me. Can you believe he turned that Tori girl down?"

"I know right? I would kill to spend some alone time with someone like her!"

"Maybe he and Anko have something going on?..."

"Maybe. They do spend a lot of time together."

"Hey, wasn't that Iruka?"

"Yeah…Do you think he heard us?"

What was with everybody? Why did the whole of Konoha suddenly care about his love life?

The sound of Genma chuckling roused Iruka from his thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked at the jonin, surprised.

"What's so funny?"

Genma's grin widened as he glanced at Iruka, pushing the senbon in his mouth to the side.

"So, what was the expression on Anko's face when you told her off?"

Despite himself, Iruka chuckled.

"Ah, so you heard about that."

Two weeks after he met Tori, Iruka had finally gotten tired of listening to Anko, and told her off, using some words he really shouldn't have. By the time he was done, Anko's face had gone from 'ready to explode' angry to 'injured puppy' pathetic. There had been quite a few witnesses to the event, so it didn't surprise him that it had made it around the village so fast.

"It was somewhere in between someone getting ready to cry and a dog that had just been kicked by accident."

Genma burst out laughing, while Iruka rubbed at his scar, thinking.

"I feel pretty guilty about it now. I'll probably apologize tomorrow."

"Nah. She needed to be cut down to size." Genma replied, chewing on his senbon thoughtfully.

The two kept silent for awhile, staring out at the black expanse of the forest.

Finally, Genma sighed and looked down at his watch.

"We've still got one more hour." He muttered.

A devilish grin spread across his face.

"So, do you mind telling me _why _it is that you rejected the date? Because there's this rumor going around that-"

Iruka cut him off. "I don't want to hear about it!"

Genma just had to keep poking that dead horse! Iruka knew he was doing it to annoy him. But, they were both pretty bored, and it's not like it would kill him to talk about it.

"Well, I…I just…I don't even know. I can't explain it."

Genma snorted. "Well, there must be a reason behind it."

Iruka shrugged. "I don't know, it's just…It just doesn't seem like a good idea to me, ninja dating and marrying. I mean, it's distracting for them to have their minds on someone else, worrying about them, especially when they're on missions. I know a lot of the ninja around here are married and have families, but it just doesn't seem like a good idea to me."

Genma was looking at him as if he'd just said he'd flown to the moon and back this morning.

Then…Genma burst out laughing.

Iruka stared at him, shocked. What was with him tonight? Had he had a little too much to drink before he came here or something?

Genma gasped, his eyes streaming.

"Oh, that was a good one. You really had me going for a minute. I thought something freaky was going on with you, but I sure was wrong. I can't believe you of all people are talking about worrying!"

It took him a minute to catch on to the annoyed look on Iruka's face. He straightened up, clearing his throat.

Iruka sighed and leaned against the railing again, crossing his arms.

"Just forget it."

He jumped as Genma suddenly clapped him on the shoulder.

"Listen up. In case you haven't noticed, we're all human. That means we feel the same things as anyone else. Yeah, sure, we happen to have more responsibilities then normal people, but that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice everything. Ninja date and marry because they fall in love, just like the civilians."

Iruka tried not to smirk. Since when was Genma this deep?

"There's nothing wrong with guys like us dating. In fact, there's a rumor going around that Raido has five girlfriends, each in different villages."

Iruka snorted. "No surprise there."

"Yeah," Genma continued, "I guess the ladies really do like guys with scars."

Iruka blushed, rubbing his nose.

Genma just chuckled again.

"If you really like this girl, go for it. Go find her tomorrow, apologize or whatever, and ask her to dinner. Don't knock it till you try it."

Genma paused, grinning again.

"Besides, you're not getting any younger."

Iruka grimmaced, knocking Genma's hand off his shoulder.

"You've been talking to Anko, haven't you?"

* * *

Genma is very out of character, but he's one of my favorites, so I had to put him in there...

Anyway, again, I very much appreciate reviews, so get to typing!


	3. Chapter 3

Ugh, I finally got the last chapter up! I've had writer's block, and I've been busy with my other fic, Deer Day Afternoon.

Anyway, I'm not really pleased with this, but I can't expect pure genius from my first fic...And neither should you, so no flames! XD

Much thanks to everyone who reviewed, er, I mean to the _only *eye twitch* _person who reviewed...so far. And for those of you who added this to favorites and/or update alerts, thank you, thank you, _thank you._XD

So, enjoy this last chapter ( if you can ), and please leave a review!

* * *

POV: Tori

Tori sighed as she watched leaves spiraling down around her, landing on the ground and on the bench she was sitting on. No more trying to deny it, she thought, fall was here.

She shivered and crossed her arms. The night was chilly, and she regretted not wearing a thicker jacket. Then again, now that she thought about it, she probably didn't even own a jacket thicker then this one. She'd come to this village with so little, the guards at the front gate- what were their names? Izumo and...Kotetsu? Yeah, that's it. The one with the crazy hair- laughed and joked that she looked like a war refugee. And she had to agree.

When she'd heard that the Hokage had requested her to teach at the academy, she'd been thrilled. She was so eager to get out of that sleepy little village of hers, with all its painful memories, that she had immediately agreed. She had packed whatever she could fit in a small suit case, giving the rest to the local homeless shelter ( they'd have to figure out what to do with that bag full of nine-inch heel shoes ) and set out the next day for Konoha, not saying goodbye to anyone and never even giving her home town a second glance.

It had felt really good to be free, with nothing on her mind except her new, hopefully exciting, life. She had known that teaching a bunch of ninja-to-be wouldn't be easy ( images of being set on fire by a eight-year-old came to mind ), and would be radically different from her class of civilian students she had last year ( kami, she missed those kids ). But she had been more then willing to do it, since it would be a challenge.

She would be starting over, beginning life anew. And she'd decided that she was going to dedicate herself to her work, and not let anything, not even men, get her distracted. Not like last time.

And then she met _him._

On her first day in her new home town, on the very day she'd made that vow, she ran into a guy that had completely knocked her mind off track.

If that wasn't karma, she didn't know what was.

Sighing again, she got off the bench, and, tucking her hands into her pockets, started walking down the path of the park. She was starting to regret coming out here. She had wanted fresh air to clear her mind, not add more thoughts to it.

She headed deeper into the park, too lost in thought to notice where she was going, and before she realized it, she was near the top of Hokage Rock.

She gazed down at the village, and smiled. It really was a beautiful town, she thought, with all its lights, scenery and interesting places. _And interesting people,_a voice nagged in her mind. She shooed it away, trying to concentrate on Konoha.

After a few minutes, she turned and headed back down the path she had come up. She was much more aware of her surroundings now, and for the first time she noticed a little path winding away from this one she was on. Curiosity getting the best of her, she stopped and stared at it for a moment. Something was carved onto the tree next to the path.

Moving closer, she realized it was some strange symbol. It didn't look like any kind of writing she'd seen. Above it was an arrow, pointing toward the little path.

She debated in her mind for a moment, then turned and tentatively took a few steps down the path, then a few more. After a moment, thinking somewhere in the back of her mind of how this was the way the horror movies were before the axe-murderer stepped out from behind a tree, she strode down the path.

After a few minutes, she came to a little rickety looking bridge over a river, at the bottom of a deep gorge. It looked like it was long forgotten and defenatly not up to Fire Country safety standards. She stared at it a moment, then started across it.

She was feeling adventures tonight, and besides, a little adventure never hurt anybody.

That was the last thing she thought before the bridge creaked suddenly and the rope at one end broke.

* * *

POV: Iruka

Iruka looked over his shoulder and waved at the retreating form of Genma.

This had been one strange night.

Chuckling, he shook his head, wondering how Genma had suddenly become a relationship guidance counselor.

Strolling down the street, he took a deep breath. He had already decided that, first thing tomorrow, he was going to apologize to Tori for being so rude, and, hopefully, ask her to dinner. He didn't really have much experience in this field, and he wasn't really sure how to ask such a question, but he guessed that if he could control a class of little monsters, er, children, he could figure out how to ask Tori out. he know he'd been a bit silly for thinking that it wasn't a good idea for ninja to be dating; sure, he knew that there might come a day when a ninja wouldn't come home, but that didn't mean they shouldn't have someone waiting for them the rest of those days. _And someone to grieve for them,_ a little voice said.

Shaking his head, he shoved his hands in his pockets.

And besides, it wasn't like there was a guarantee that this relationship would become serious. It would be nice to have something to do on saturdays, when he would normally be sitting at home by himself, reading over reports or catching up on paperwork., and having someone else to talk to besides Anko and, occasionally, Izumo or Kotetsu. Yeah, maybe dating wasn't that bad of an idea.

He yawned. One thing he was sure of was that he wanted to get home and get to bed.

He was passing near the Hokage's Tower when he heard a terrified scream coming from the forest.

Whipping around, he stared through the trees, trying to locate its source.

Another shriek split the air, and this time, he was able to pinpoint it. It was coming from the old bridge, the one that had been shut down. One of the chunnins had said they would place a sign near it warning people that they shouldn't cross it. But from the sound of it, they either didn't do it or didn't do a very good job.

He leaped up onto the rooftops and took off across them, earning some choice words and rude gestures from each home's occupants.

He sped up when another scream came, this one sounding even more desperate. Within a minute or two, he was at the head of the trail leading to the bridge. Pausing a moment, he looked around, searching for any kind of warning sign. He spotted a symbol on a tree and leaned closer to look. It was a hastily scrawled, almost unreadable bit of calligraphy that said something along the lines of "Don't Go Here." Iruka snorted; this must be what that chunin considered a 'warning sign.' Making a mental note to request that the Third Hokage insist that some of his chunin take a class in writing, he ran down the trail.

He came to a skidding hault at the edge of the gorge, right where the entrance to the bridge was. The problem was that the entrance _wasn't _there; it was hanging half way down the gully, swinging roughly back and forth. A small, terrified figure was clinging to that end, screaming whenever the bridge listed too hard. Tori.

Iruka closed his eyes, trying to think. The only way he could get to her was to climb down, since he doubted he would be able to pull the end of the bridge back up. He opened his eyes, looking down at Tori. She wasn't a ninja, so she probably couldn't hold on for much longer. It was now or never.

He turned and slid his foot over the edge of the gorge, testing his foothold, then slid his other foot down. Moving slowly, inch by inch, he eased himself down the side.

Reaching the place where he was just across from the end of the bridge, he turned slowly so that he was facing the opposite wall, and leaped.

He grabbed the rope of the bridge, and with a light thump, landed against the wall of the gully, beside Tori. Her eyes were tightly closed, and she was opening her mouth to let out another scream.

"Hey, there." he said cheerily.

Her eyes flew open and her mouth gaped as she looked at him.

"Need some help?"

To his surprise, a blush spread across her cheeks and she sheepishly nodded.

He grinned "Fantastic. I'm long overdue for a little adventure."

Leaning over, he wrapped his arm across her shoulders.

"Okay, listen to me. What you're gonna have to do is grab my shoulder, let go of the rope, and swing around onto my back. Think you can do that?"

Fear shimmered into her eyes, and she shook her head, clinging harder to the rope.

"Well, sorry, but you're going to have to."

She gritted her teeth, shaking her head again.

"Tori, listen to me." He moved his arm from around her shoulder to move her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "You're going to have to trust me, okay? I promise, I will not let you fall."

He felt her shiver, and she stared at him a moment before looking down the gorge.

"Tori."

She looked back up at him.

"Do you trust me?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

"Good. Now, just like I said."

Slipping his arm around her shoulder again, he pulled her closer to him. She let go of the rope with one hand and grabbed his shoulder, gripping it tight. She hesitated for a moment, then, in one swift motion let go of the rope and swung around onto his back.

"There we go, great job."

Her teeth chattered in reply.

_Now comes the hard part, _he thought.

Pulling himself away from the bridge, he started to pull himself, hand over hand, to the top of the gorge. When he was about half way up, he noticed that part of the wall was crumbled away. There was no way for him to get to the top on this side. He turned to look Tori in the eye.

"Okay, Tori, listen, I'm going to have to jump over to the other side. All I need you to do is hold on tight, got it?"

She nodded her head quickly, closing her eyes and gripping his neck tighter.

Tensing, he turned half way around, toward the opposite side.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

He kicked off from the wall. After what seemed like eternity, they landed against the cold stone, Iruka quickly getting a grip on the slick rock.

"Alright, we're almost there, Tori, just a little farther."

He pulled himself up toward the edge, exhaustion starting to replace the adrenaline that had been running through him.

Half way up, his hand slipped, and he was left dangling one handed from the wall. Tori shrieked in terror and clung tighter to him.

Choking from her grip, he swung her arm around and got his grip again, steadying himself.

"Hey, didn't I say I wouldn't let you fall?"

Starting up the wall again, he felt Tori relax a bit.

Finally, his fingers brushed the grass at the top, and he dug them in. Pulling himself up, he let out a silent sigh of relief as he crawled up an over the edge, landing with a grunt on the grass.

Tori crawled off him and sat next to him, panting. Iruka turned over and layed on his back, panting as well.

After a moment, Iruka heard a loud snapping noise and looked over to see the end of the bridge that still clung to the edge of the gorge snap and at its ropes and fall with several thuds into the river below.

Letting his head fall back against the ground, he chuckled. "I guess we hit it lucky."

He looked over at Tori, and was surprised to see her staring at him.

"You saved me."

Iruka fought the blush that was threatening to rise to his cheeks. "Well, of course I did. I wasn't about to let you fall."

She shook her head. "You could have fallen. You could have _died."_

Iruka shrugged. "Well, probably not died, but severely injured, maybe."

She shivered. "How can you talk like that? You put yourself in so much danger!"

He smiled. "Well, I could say the same for you."

She looked down at the ground.

"Anyway," he continued, "I'm a ninja. We put ourselves in danger all the time."

She shuddered, looking at him again. "How can you stand it?"

"Stand what?"

"Stand knowing that you might be hurt, or even die, any minute?"

He shrugged again. "I suppose you just kinda get used to it. And, anyway, it's not like I'm the kind of guy that they would put on the front lines. I'm not some kind of hero."

She smiled, for the first time that night. "Well, you certainly are my hero."

He stared at her, then blushed. "Well, thank you."

A rustling in the bushes made them both look up to see several ninja, including Genma and Raidou, standing near the edge of the gorge.

"Well," said Genma, smiling around his senbon," We're heard screaming, and decided to go check it out, but it looks like you've got things pretty well taken care of, Iruka."

"What happened?" Raidou

Iruka sat up, nodding his head. "Yes, the bridge broke while she was on it, and a crawled down to get her."

Raidou nodded, looking over at where the bridge used to be. "Any injuries?"

Iruka glanced over at Tori, who shook her head.

"Good job, Iruka." said Genma, still smiling. Iruka guessed there was a double meaning behind those words.

"Well, if it's alright with you guys, I think I'll walk Tori home."

Raidou nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. You've done enough tonight."

Iruka got to his feet, then offered Tori his arm. She took it eagerly, and together, they walked back up the trail.

Once they were out of earshot of the other ninja, Tori looked at him. "What can I ever do to repay you?"

"Well, you could have dinner with me tomorrow night." The words were out before he was able to stop myself.

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Now you want to go out with me?"

Iruka sighed. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. It was a bad time for me, and I had to think about alot of things. Can you forgive me?"

Tori smiled. "Of course I can. So, what time tomorrow?"

Iruka grinned, remembering something. "Actually, can we make it the day after? I have something I need to do tomorrow."

Anko had been right; he did need to fine someone. And he had.

So, first thing was first; he'd need to go apologize to Anko.

And Iruka had a pretty good idea that that was going to involve more then one bowl of ramen on him.

Iruka looked over at Tori.

This was one collision he was glad he'd had.

* * *

Phew! Finally done! Again, thanks to everyone who put up with my fickle little writer's brain.

I hope you liked it, and, like I said, reviews are still appreciated!


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